Vikings' crowd noise created chaos for Texans' offense: 'This place is special'

The Vikings' home-field advantage is one of the best in football, and they're back to capitalizing on it.

Sep 22, 2024; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Minnesota Vikings fans react during the third quarter against the Houston Texans at U.S. Bank Stadium. / Jeffrey Becker-Imagn Images

If there was one thing that stood out most during Sunday's dominant Vikings win over the Texans, it's how LOUD it was. U.S. Bank Stadium was absolutely rocking from start to finish, and the noise had a genuine impact on the game.

"This place is special," Kevin O'Connell said afterwards. "This building was special today and I thought our fans were phenomenal. For budget reasons, we can’t give every single one of our fans a game ball, but they certainly deserve it."

Nothing summed up in the impact of the crowd better than a sequence of total chaos in the second quarter. Facing a third and 4 at the Vikings' 25, the Texans committed not one, not two, but three consecutive false starts. After each penalty was announced, delighted Vikings fans grew louder and louder, recognizing their influence on the disarray. Houston ended up with third and 19, committed another pre-snap penalty that was declined, and wound up punting because they were out of field goal range.

The Texans had 11 penalties in total, seven of which were either false starts or illegal formations by their offense.

The #Texans just committed three consecutive false starts, going from third-and-4 at the Vikings' 25 to third-and-19 at the Vikings' 40. The crowd noise at US Bank Stadium in Minnesota is absolutely insane.pic.twitter.com/HzhHBiO5be

— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) September 22, 2024

Since it opened in 2016, U.S. Bank Stadium has been one of the loudest venues in the NFL, giving the Vikings a legit home-field advantage. From 2016 to 2019, Minnesota went 24-9 at home. In 2022, they were 8-2. That's why it was so disappointing for O'Connell to be just 2-6 in Minneapolis last season — and why he's so fired up about the team's 2-0 start at "The Bank" this year.

"Knowing the potential we have if we can get off to good starts, if we can protect the football, force some turnovers, have our fans feel the momentum of their role on third down," O'Connell said, "it just kind of feels like a little bit of a tidal wave of momentum, energy. And our players feed off of it. And I just think when fans are willing to show up and have the type of performance that they had, we like rewarding that. We like allowing them to have a very enjoyable Sunday afternoon."

Star Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud had one of the worst performance of his young career on Sunday. That mostly had to do with the pressure, havoc, and deception created by Brian Flores' defense, but the atmosphere of the stadium was a factor as well. It's hard for the players on the field to communicate in the midst of all that noise, and that favors the defense.

"Shoutout to our fans," Camryn Bynum said. "I couldn't hear myself talk out there. Imagine for the offense, having to check their protections and doing certain things like that up front. It made it tough for them. ... That was for sure the loudest game I've been in."

This is a crowd that has fallen in love with these Vikings over their 3-0 start to the season. They did all they could to spur their team to another win on Sunday. And when their resurgent quarterback ran onto the field after missing one play with an injury scare, the fans made sure to show him all kinds of love. Sam Darnold got quite the ovation, complete with a few MVP chants, when he jogged back into the huddle in the third quarter.

"The fans' reaction meant everything," Darnold said. "Not just the reaction, but my entire time here in Minnesota has been amazing with the fans."

"I'll say it again: I think we've got the best fans in the National Football League," O'Connell said. "Not particularly close."